a vietnamese want to pay my sea shells using L/C?

Question

a Vietnamese want to pay my sea shells using L/C or letter of credit , is letter of credit ok ? how does it works ? do i have to pay for the shipping of the shells to his country , he is going to oder 11 tons of shells .

Answer 1

I would not ship them the sea shells unless I had a check in my hot little hands. You are going to get stuck with bad debt. And if they do send a check you had better tell them you will not ship until the check clears THEIR bank. Otherwise you could deposit the check and find out weeks later it was bad. Be very careful dealing oversees, you just don't have the laws to protect you.

My Uncle recently had a client oversees that wanted him to ship water softening units. It seemed very professional and all on the level. He cashed the check but told them he would not ship the unitls until the money had cleared their bank. He deposited the money in an account seperate from the regular business account to make sure all was well. He was right 2 weeks later he found out it was all a scam. The first small amount they had sent was good, but the second larger amount was no good. Thank God he was smart enough not to ship the units.

Answer 2

I hear an alarm bell going off. Check with your bank, for the best advice on this.